SAN ANGELO COLTS: Doc Edwards returns for home opener

Colts face Roadrunners at Foster Field

SAN ANGELO, Texas - San Angelo Colts veteran manager Doc Edwards will be back in the dugout tonight for his team’s home opener against the defending United League Baseball champion Edinburg Roadrunners at Foster Field.

The 76-year-old former major league player and skipper, who is in his eighth year with the Colts, was hospitalized with a skin infection that prevented him from going to San Angelo’s first four games on the road against the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings over the weekend.

Edwards’ infection was the same thing he had a couple of times in the early 1960s when he was playing in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

He made it clear Monday that Colts fans shouldn’t be concerned.

“It was just an infection on the leg, that’s all it was,” said Edwards, who is in his 56th year of pro baseball. “It’s not that bad. It’s something that you get where you get an infection, and it climbs up your leg until you stop it.”

Edwards had to spend eight days in the hospital until his condition improved.

In his absence, the Colts won their first three games against the WhiteWings in Harlingen before dropping the series finale 2-1 on Sunday night.

Edwards is just as excited as the Colts fans probably are to see the new-look team in person tonight for the first time.

“They played well,” Edwards said of the first series. “I didn’t hear it, the first game. But (the Colts’ founding father) Harlan Bruha listened to it, and every three innings he would call me at the hospital and tell me what was going on.

“And then a couple of days later, I got my own radio at the house, and I’d sit up and listen to it.”

The only players back from last year’s team that reached the ULB semifinals are infielder Danny Hernandez, outfielder Braden Embry and pitchers Demetrius Banks and Alfredo Caballero.

Two years ago, the Colts led the league with 172 home runs, and Edwards feels this year’s team is capable of reaching those kind of numbers again.

Edwards said Nichols, Caves, Rinaudo, Embry and Williams will be some of the big hitters for Colts fans to watch in 2013.

“We’ve got a lot of power,” the former backup catcher for the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies said. “It’s too early to where it’s not coming to the surface yet. We’re just not sharp yet. They’ll hit some balls out of here.”

The Colts’ pitching has been strong out of the gates through the first four games with a minuscule ERA of 0.77. Caballero has already recorded two saves.

At the plate, Rinaudo has a team-high batting average of .375, and Garcia and Mobbs are close behind at .357 and .353, respectively.

Today’s game is the first of four contests against the Roadrunners and the first home series should be a good barometer to see how strong the Colts are early on.

The Roadrunners will be looking to get their first win of the season after getting swept by the Fort Worth Cats in their first four games.

“Tomorrow night is going to be a happy day for me to see how they play and see how they come out of it and everything,” said Edwards, a former manager of the Cleveland Indians.

The Colts skipper is anxious to see some familiar faces in the bleachers.

“I’m looking forward to seeing some of the fans,” he said. “They’re great fans here. There’s a lot of them that are part of this family.

“They’ll get to know these players and the players will make sure they get to know them.”